Toyota Hearings Begin Today

Edward Niedermeyer
by Edward Niedermeyer

The House Energy and Commerce Committee kicks off the week’s Toyota-related festivities on Capitol Hill today, with the first round of hearings scheduled for 11 am Eastern. Testifying will be Toyota Motor America’s Jim Lentz, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, Southern Illinois professor and ABC’s ghost hunter David Gilbert, Safety Research and Strategy’s Sean Kane, as well Eddie and Rhonda Smith, who reportedly experienced uncontrollable sudden acceleratio n in a Lexus ES350. The E&C Committee has a live webcast available here, or you can watch on C-Span 3. The Detroit News’s David Shepardson is live-tweeting from the press events on the Hill leading up to the hearing.

Tomorrow is the main event, when CEO Akio Toyoda appears before the House Oversight Committee along with TMA President Yoshimi Inaba.

Edward Niedermeyer
Edward Niedermeyer

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  • Edward Niedermeyer Edward Niedermeyer on Feb 23, 2010

    I'm really curious as to how the nice lady was able to shift into neutral and reverse at 100 mph without either stopping (which she was eventually able to, although she insists it was not because of shifting into neutral) or leaving her transmission on the freeway. I'm also mystified by Kane's ability to simply rule out driver error.

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    • 210delray 210delray on Feb 23, 2010

      I was curious about her statement also. She said she shifted into neutral and (at least nominally) into reverse, yet the car wouldn't stop. But eventually it did after she started praying. Divine intervention? I also don't get how if the engine were off, how it could start on its own while being hooked up to the tow truck. Sorry, but this dog don't hunt!

  • Gary Numan Gary Numan on Feb 23, 2010

    Hmmmm.....US Gov't owns 2 out of the 3 US based auto companies along with the UAW having ownership as well. Hmmmm.....Unions are documented as being the highest providers of campaign funds in the USA over the past decade. Hmmmm.....USA gov't representatives (and now our President) are dominated by lawyers as a prior profession. Hmmmm.....USA media shares few actual facts, data or critical analysis. Focuses on crisis sensationalism to drive viewership.

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    • Crash sled Crash sled on Feb 23, 2010

      Well, that's true. On the one hand, we have congressmen supporting the jobs of hardworking autoworkers in Indiana, who are producing value, and on the other hand we have congressmen supporting the jobs of hardworking trial lawyers in Washington, who are emptying somebody else's pockets and lining their own, and producing nothing of value.

  • Crash sled Crash sled on Feb 23, 2010

    One of the congresscritters just dropped a bomb. Evidently, she claims that Toyota's lawyers just released a stateemnt that the auto tech proffy's work is a result of "sabotage", and only "sabotage" could lead to the result he got. The poor proffy got a bit flustered.

    • Juniper Juniper on Feb 23, 2010

      Sabatoge, that's strong language he may wish he hadn't said in the future. This whole thing is just opening up.

  • Crash sled Crash sled on Feb 23, 2010

    John Dingell, the congressman representing the UAW, and whose wife is a Government Motors executive working for the General Motors subsidiary, is currently interrogating Lentz. It's pretty funny! Dingell is a treasure. I like this guy, and his motivations are always clear and understandable. Rough, but he's open about it. Lentz just said Toyota would be providing 100 black box recorders to the US by April, so that's news. Lentz also played the sympathy card, about his brother dying in a car accident, and started choking up. There is no crying in the car business. This guy is NOT a car guy.

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